BY Anya GandavadiHow does the COVID-19 vaccine actually work? There’s been a lot of talk about a vaccine for COVID-19 recently, it seems as if it is the only way to get back to normal, or “the light at the end of the tunnel.” As cases continue to rise all over the world, we’ve seen many countries such as the UK approve vaccines and seen names like Pfizer and Moderna on the news. But what does this vaccine actually do to us, and why is it different than anything we’ve ever seen before? A relatively new technology, mRNA vaccines also protect against infectious diseases, but in a new way. According to the CDC, the vaccines we’re used to receiving “trigger an immune response” by putting “a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies.” Instead of releasing weak or inactive germs into our body, the new COVID-19 vaccine releases, you guessed it, messenger RNA. Messenger RNA or mRNA vaccines “teach our cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies” which produces antibodies to protect us from getting sick if we are infected in the future. The mRNA in your cytoplasm is like a string of instructions that are read by ribosomes in your cells who then make proteins accordingly through translation. COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give a specific set of instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of what is called the “spike protein.” The spike protein is seen in the often red spikes you see in enlargened pictures or drawings of the COVID-19 virus. On its own, the spike is harmless and that is what the mRNA codes for. The spikes make their way to the cell membrane and your cells break down the mRNA instructions that were injected. The fragment of the virus replicated in your body is then noticed by your T-cells who recognize that this piece of protein does not belong in your body. They can then prepare themselves ahead of time to prepare for the real thing without coming into contact with the real virus by creating antibodies that fit the spike. The memory of how to fight the SARS-COV-2 virus is stored in B cells for possible future infections. You may recognize this as an adaptive immune response since your body already recognizes the spike proteins. According to the CDC, “there are currently no licensed mRNA vaccines in the United States. However, researchers have been studying and working with them for decades.” It has taken years since they have been unstable in the past with enzymes in your body breaking them down and deterioration when they aren’t placed in extremely cold conditions of -70 degrees celsius. There are many advantages to mRNA vaccines, however, because they can be developed in a laboratory using “readily available materials.” This means the process can be “standardized and scaled up, making vaccine development faster than traditional methods of making vaccines.” They can be made much more quickly than other vaccines since they do not have to make non-infective viruses to inject. It is more cost-effective, and although relatively new, initial trials have overwhelmingly shown great promise of immunity with little to no side-effects. Over 70,000 people have been given the vaccines without serious concerns. With a global pandemic, the research into mRNA vaccines has accelerated greatly as the world has come together to work on a cure. With the US on the verge of approving a vaccine, it is an exciting time for science. References:
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